Under general anesthesia or periotic nerve block anesthesia, 56 patients of auricle laceration underwent microsurgical debridement.

Staining of a thin sliver of each block can highlight the main bodies of nerve cells (top, purplish image) with the darker areas indicating high cell density near the brain's surface.

“You could block the nerve with an injection of lidocaine, cool the area, and if it still happens it’s probably a circulatory-system thing, ” she says.